Tool for producing fissures in mineral felt



llg- 24, 1965 L. A. CARLSON ETAL 3,202,025

TOOL FQR PRODUCING FISSURES IN MINERAL FELT fFiled sept. 28, 1959 2sheets-sheet 1 VFiled sept. 28, 1959 Aug- 24, 1965 L. A. CARLSON ETAL3,202,025

TOOL FOR PRODUCING FISSURES IN MINERAL FELT 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent O The present Ainvention relates to impression-formingpunches, tools or dies for forming fissures in mineral felts,

for example, to produce iissured tile.

Travertine has long been a decorative wall material, which is commonlyimitated in board-form tile installed on walls and ceilings. Such tileis available as porous liber felts of approximately l to 25 pounds percu. `ft., the fibers being all vegetable, or all mineral or mixturesthereof.

Various methods to form fissures into the tile or onto panels to be cutinto tiles, have been employed, and methods for one kind of tile are notnecessarily applicable to other kinds of tile. Some methods arepracticed during the formation of the board material, and others arepracticed on finished board and on tile cut therefrom.

In such porous board having a high content of mineral fibers, which arefragile, fissures may be formed by crushing inwardly alregion of boardto appear as a fissure, thus breaking off the fibers and leaving acavity from which fiber remnants are easily removed, as by blowing orsuction. p

Fissures to imitate travertine, or otherwise to have an acceptabledecorative effect, must be irregular in outline, wall surface and depth,and be present in assembled tile in a variety of different forms. Hence,in producing tile for such assemblies `a variety of fissure-formingtools is required.`

The present invention provides a simple and inexpensive method ofproducing tools to form such irregular fissures.

It is one object of the invention to provide such a tool in the form ofa punching die, which `may be used to form a fissure of a correspondingcharacter, or which may be used as a master or pattern for castingintegral dies which produce fissures of the same character.

In the artistry of `designing fissures for decorative effect many formsof `dies are made and discarded in reaching a group of acceptablefissures. It is, therefore, important in developing dies for commercialproduction that a simple and inexpensive method be available. Thepresent invention provides such a method for making an initial formuseful to form such fissures, say in development of a line of tile. Whensuch an initial form is `acceptable for commercial production, it issuch that it may be released from active use to form fissures and usedas a pattern or master for casting any number of dies for commercialproduction.

The simplicity of the method is illustrated by reference to thedrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a foundation in the form of a wooden board, with markedoutlines for fissures.

FIG. 2 shows the board of FIG. 1 with packed pins driven variously intoit Within the outlines and projectcylinder carrying projecting punchportions, shown in cross-section as it punches a tile.

FIG. 7 is a modified form somewhat similar to FIG. 3 with which astripper plate may be used.

FIG. 8 is a view in crosssection of the form shown in FIG. 7, andsimilar to the View shown in FIG. 5.

In FIG. l, a wooden board 10 is provided, preferably slightly largerthan the tile for which it is to be used. On it the general outline offissures is indicated for the purpose of illustration, four suchoutlines 11, 12, 13 and 14 being shown, generally elongated in the samedirection.

Into the board 1t) Within the outlined areas are driven pins in closelypacked formation at various angles.` Common nails may be used to supplythe pins, and at a suitable stage of the process, the heads of the nailsare cutoff, preferably at various angles and in a manner to leavevarying lengths of the nail shanks projecting above the face of board10. The ends of the pins and the Shanks of the outermost pinspredetermine the character of a fissure which may be rnade.

In FIG. 2 the pin-filled areas are designated 11', 12', 13 and 14', in amanner merely to indicate the presence of pins, the detail being shownin FIG. 3.

In FIG. 3, a plurality of pin Shanks 16 is shown, some in cross-sectionand some in elevation, with Shanks at various angles departing fromnormal positions to the face lllab of board 1t), and with ends 17 atvarious angles with respect to a right-angled cross-section.

A form such as FIG. 2 may be used to punch lissures into a tile having asuiiicient content of :mineral fibers to be crushed by the advancingdies 11 to 14. g

When in the course of development endeavor lissures are accepted forcommercial production, the experimental die ofFIG. 2 is set aside foruse as a master or pattern. From it a casting mold is made, which may bea sand mold, and a cast made, represented by a metal casting illustratedin FIG. 4, in which the base Ztl and the projections 21, 22, 23 and 24are integral. The minute irregularities evident in FIG. 3 may or may notbe reproduced, according to the precision of the casting method, asuitable reproduction being illustrated by the crosssection of FIG.` 5,corresponding to the section in FIG. 3. The general contour of themaster is reproduced in the cast, `and substantially the same characterof fissure is produced by both.

Although the invention has been illustrated and described above byreference to a flat platen or base 10 in FIG. 1 and 20 in FIG. 4, thebase may be a cylinder. Originally, it may be wood to receive pins ornails aS described, and in casts there may be arcuate metal plates 25,26 and 27, with projecting dies 28, over a drum 29, as shown in FIG. 6.

In FIG. 6, a bed plate 30 has a mineral fiber tile 31 moving on it underthe cylinder, forming fissures by a process which may be continuous.

It is preferred to punch rather than to roll in the fissures, since thismethod permits simultaneous formation of punched sound-absorbing holes.the fissure-forming die of FIG. 3 or FIG. 5, has long single pins normalto the base, which first punch a hole iu the body before thessure-forming die makes its forming contact.

Such optional punching pins are indicated by the nu meral 34 in FIG. 3and 35 in FIG. 5. Pins such as 35 in a cast die like that of FIG. 5 arepreferably not cast with the die, but are inserted in drilled holes inthe cast of the fissure-forming die.

When the ssure-forming platen is used for punching in the fissures, asdistinguished from rolling them in as illustrated in FIG. 6, the basel()may also have elsewhere in its area than over the fissure-forming dies,a multi amaze To do this j plicity of pins to make sound-absorbing holesin the unssured area of a tile. Such pins are illustrated by pins 36 inFIG. 5, of which only a few are indicated in FIG. 4 to avoid confusionin the drawing.

Consequently, the resulting die to form fissures is one with or withouta multiplicity of pins normal to the base for the purposes described,anywhere over the area of the die.

Experience with punching mineral tile with dies for forming fissures andpunched holes has led to a modiiication of Vthe forms shown above.Especially when punching pins are present there is great frictionbetween the entire die and the tile making it diicult to Withdraw thedie from the tile. The friction may be so great in some cases thatholding the tile at the edges to Withdraw the die results in rupture ofthe tile. T o avoid this possibility, the die is applied through astripper plate having openings which pass the projecting elements of thedie, such that the stripper plate presses on substantially all of theunaffected face of the tile to hold it while the die is withdrawn.

To accommodate a die of the present invention for use with such astripper plate, the projecting elements of the die which are intended topenetrate the tile, are connected to the tile base by interveningportions, of which all or part reside within the two faces of thestripper plate when the die is deepest in the tile. It is preferred thatthe connecting parts be such as to accommodate stripper plates ofvarious thicknesses. As a result, a single die may be moved infunctioning on tile through a stripper plate against stops which may beadjusted in position to vary the space between the die base and a givenstripper plate. By this means, a die may be used to form differentfissures according to its depth of penetration into the tile.

FIG. 7 represents in cross-section a structure similar to that in FIG. 3wherein a wooden base 40 receives nails or pins 41 in a mass thereof toform a fissure, as described for FIG. 3. The dotted lines 42 representthe location of a stripper plate having an opening through which thedie-mass formed by nails or pins 41 projects to variable extentspermitted by a variable space 44 between the face 45 of the die base anda face 46 of a stripper plate.

FIG. 8 is a view like that of FIG. 5 showing in crosssection a castingmade by use of the form of FIG. 7 as a pattern. 1t shows an integralfissure-forming die with die base 50, projecting die part 51, includinga peripheral Wall 52 substantially perpendicular to the planar face 53of the die base 50 by reason of said wall and said face forming an angleof at least 90. The dotted lines 54 represent the location of a stripperplate with opening 55 of contour matching the contour of the fenced-inportion, but preferably slightly larger for freedom of movement.

Numeral 56 represents one or more pins for punching acoustic holes,which may be inserted into the casting after its formation, as describedin reference to FlG. 5.

From the foregoing it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the illustrative embodiments shown in the drawings, and thatall other forms and modifications are contemplated as falling within thescope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A die for forming fissures in mineral felts which die comprises asolid platen base having a planar face to overlie a mineral felt to belissured, an elongated fissureforming mass carried by and projectingfrom said face, said mass being rigid with respect to said base andhaving a substantially perpendicular peripheral wall of irreguiarcontour extending from said face, said Wall and said face forming anangle of at least the shape of the mass being that of a number ofclosely packed pins projecting to various extents outwardly from saidface.

2. A die according to claim 1 in which said mass is composed of closelypacked pins projecting to various extends outwardly from said face.

3. A die according to claim 1 in which said mass projecting from saidface is solid.

4. A die according to claim 1 in which a punching pin extends from saidmass beyond the outermost extent of said mass and in the same directionas said mass extends from said face.

References Citedvby the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 224,665 2/80Edison 83-30 346,580 8/86 Cobb.

3 89,112 9/88 Setchell 41-24 1,471,472 10/23 Anderson 22--195 1,591,5727/26 Stimson.

1,794,194 2/31 Meyercord et al. 41-24 2,064,322 12/ 36 Ruppert 41-242,332,360 10/ 43 Wakefield 16?.-144 2,371,061 3/45 Milano 76-1072,518,838 8/50 Tempe 82-660 y 2,611,434 9/52 Mugler.

2,716,909 9/55 Rupert 76-107 2,724,919 11/55 Leyendecker 41-24 2,968,8381/61 Hicks 76-107 3,013,626 12/61 Brown et al. 162-114 3,013,937 12/61Brown et al. 162-114 3,017,947 1/ 62 Eckert 162-114 ANDREW R. JUHASZ,Primary Examiner. JAMES S. BAILEY, CARL TOMLIN, Examiners,

1. A DIE FOR FORMING A FISSURES IN MINERAL FELTS WHICH DIE COMPRISE ASOLID PLATEN BASE HAVING A PLANNAR FACE TO OVERLIE A MINERAL FELT TO BEFISSURED, AN ELONGATED FISSUREFORMING MASS CARRIED BY AND PROJECTINGFROM SAID FACE, SAID MASS BEING RIGID WITH RESPECT TO SAID BASE ANDHAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY PREPENDICULAR PERIPHERAL WALL OFF IRREGULARCONTOUR EXTENDING FROM SAID FACE, SAID WALL AND SAID FACE FORMING ANANGLE OF AT LEAST 90*, THE SHAPE OF THE MASS BEING THAT OF A NUMBER OFCLOSELY PACKED PINS PROJECTIN TO VARIOUS EXTENTS OUTWARDLY FROM SAIDFACE.